1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image process apparatus, an image process method and a storage medium.
2. Related Background Art
In a character recognition technique which is used in an image process apparatus to recognize a character on the basis of an image signal read from an original, it is possible to perform a substantial real-time process especially at copying speed of a low-speed copy machine or so because process speeds of CPUs and semiconductors have been significantly improved in recent years.
Furthermore, in recent years, since almost all the originals to be copied are formed by type with use of a word processor or the like, recognition accuracy to these documents improves, whereby the character recognition technique has reached a practical level.
In this connection, various techniques to recognize the character and its size in the original are proposed.
By the way, in the copy machine of this type, an image is analyzed into dots at certain resolution and then managed and processed. Therefore, in a case where a document obtained by the copy is used as the original to be further copied, especially in a case where such the document is used for the reduction copy, deterioration of quality in the reproduction image is inevitable in principle.
In consideration of the above-described drawback, an object of the present invention is to provide an image process apparatus, an image process method and a storage medium which are possible to realize high-quality image reproduction.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an image process apparatus, an image process method and a recording medium which are possible to reproduce a character-recognized image as a desired-density image.
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an image processing apparatus comprising:
an input means for inputting an image signal representing an image;
a character recognition means for recognizing a character in the image on the basis of the image signal input by the input means;
a density detection means for detecting a density of the character recognized by the character recognition means;
an instruction input means for inputting an instruction by an operator for reproduction image formation; and
an image formation means for generating a reproduction image signal on the basis of the instruction input by the input means, the recognition result by the character recognition means and the detection result by the density detection means.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an image process apparatus, an image process method and a recording medium each of which has a novel function.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and the attached drawings.